NAGA CITY SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL

Balatas, Naga City

Quarter 1 – First Semester
Lesson 2 – ACADEMIC TEXT STRUCTURE
ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Learner’s Name: _________________________________Grade / Section: _________________________
Date: _________________________________Score: _________________________________
Read the text below and answer the following questions. NO ERASURES.

Excerpt from: WHEN FAMILY TIME BECOMES GADGET TIME

By Michele S. Alignay, MA, RP, RGC

“I’m bored!” “It’s so hard!” “I don’t know what to do!” These are some of the most common complaints we hear from children and teens
these days. Often, they have something to do with kids being weaned on gadgets at an early age. When a child starts throwing a tantrum or begins
to move up and about, the first impulse of many parents is to give him a gadget. And just like magic, his mood changes and pe ace, albeit
temporarily, reigns, as the young one disconnects from the world around him and focuses on the screen before him.
The digital age and the advent of social media have indeed connected the world with a few clicks and taps…. Yet, the advantages social
media and the Digital Age bring are, ironically enough, the very same aspects that now hamper children’s development, life-skill building, and
parent-child relationships.
Children’s downtime is an opportune time for them to create, read, play, and engage in countless activities people their age normally do
as recent as 10 years ago. Giving the child a gadget when boredom strikes is an ephemeral way of addressing a whim.
Growing babies are supposed to explore and use their hands and feet to sharpen their senses and develop their motor skills. Eating
time ought to be a busy, messy, and happy affair replete with practical and indirect lessons on interaction with their parents or nannies.
How can we expect these normal and “traditional” activities to transpire if we shove a gadget in front of them? Do we realize the
implications of what we’re doing? We’re compromising the fleeting time they have, which should be used instead to help them develop themselves,
as they engage with and explore the world around them with their hands and senses.
By regulating their access to gadgets, we may sound conventional, outdated, or even mean parents. That’s okay. When we set rules on
gadgets, we should mean it. When we say to our kids to go ahead and cry, but you can’t have gadget time, we should mean it. When we say no
when our kids are becoming too demanding, we should mean it. Buying peace by caving into their demands for a gadget comes with a price. I
don’t want my kids and our home to be peaceful at the expense of compromising significant aspects in their development, learning, and ability to
relate to others in the real world.
But such tough-love measures are necessary if we’re to produce responsible and well-rounded human beings. Their knowledge and
familiarity with the virtual world should be balanced with activities that would make them enjoy and appreciate real-life opportunities to play, create,
chat, express themselves, and be grateful for what they have, including the privilege of being granted access to gadgets.

Source: Alignay, M.S. (2016 Sept. 24). When family time becomes gadget time. Manila Bulletin. Available at: https://mb.com.ph/2016/09/24/when-family-time-
becomesgadget-time

QUESTIONS
1. What is the text about?

2.What is the writer’s purpose or message?

3.Who is the target reader of the text?

4.What is the point of view of the text?

5. How much does the writer know of the

subject? Briefly explain your answer.

6. Did the writer organize the content well?

Which part(s) does not follow the standard?

7. What words did the writer use that show

a formal language or technical concept?
Give three examples for each.

TYPE OF ACADEMIC TEXT: _______________________________________

REASON: _______________________________________________________________________________________________